Gambit wrote on 12/18/07 at 05:14:15:
Most FIDE tournaments are too far away for me to participate in. They are either in South America, Europe, California, Midwest... anywhere but the NJ/NY area. And even when there is a FIDE tournament around, something comes up and my calendar does not permit me to play.
Let me know when there is a FIDE tournament in the area, will you?
But for that, I would have a FIDE rating.
Thanks.
Ridiculous. You live in New Jersey. There's no place in the world where it's easier to get a FIDE rating than the NY/NJ area.
I see you just missed the Edward Lasker Memorial at the Marshall Chess Club in NY (though you would have had to play a qualifying tournament). Here's the crosstable:
http://marshallchessclub.org/mccch07.htm. Note that only three players lacked FIDE ratings. All three are little kids.
Anyway. Most of the big Open tournaments have FIDE-rated Open sections. You'd have to play at least 3 games with FIDE-rated players, but these are 6 to 9 round tournaments, and rated players are thick on the ground. Do you really not know this already?
Coming up: The Eastern Open in Washington DC, December 27-30; or the Empire State Open in Sratoga NY the same weekend (I'd think DC is easier to get to); the Liberty Bell Open in Philadelphia, January 18-21; the Foxwoods Open in Massachussetts in March. In June/July, you have the Philadelphia International, followed immediately by the World Open. Later in the year, the Fall Futurity at the Marshall should be on in 2008 unless the roof falls in again, and there's the National Congress in Philadelphia over Thanksgiving. Play two of those--three at most--and you should have 9 games for an initial FIDE rating.
Oh, and there's a FIDE-rated weekend tournament at the Marshall almost every month, though it's slightly hard to get 3 rated opponents in a 4-round tournament unless you're playing pretty well.
Seriously, in the NY/NJ area, it's hard to avoid getting a FIDE rating these days, unless you only play in quickplays.
Sheesh.